Last Takeoff from SQL

In 1 week, I am moving back to Europe, after 2.5 extraordinary years in the San Francisco area.

In these 2.5 years:

• I owned a plane, and even made a profit with it!
• I got my instrument rating
• I got my night endorsement
• I got my complex/retractable endorsement
• I flew aerobatics
• I did spins
• I did hundreds of stall in all possible airplane configurations (also trim stalls)
• I finally did my first solo stall after more than 170 flight hours (I was afraid). I am not afraid anymore, and I did plenty more since!
• I did a landing error recovery training, where I zigzagged 20 times at 3ft above the runway while playing with rudders and power
• I learned maneuvers with really cool names: Chandelles, Lazy Eights, Eights on Pylons, Slips, Bounces
• I flew Cessnas, Pipers, Decathlons, Citabrias
• I flew a Mooney
• I flew a G1000 Cessna 172SP
• I flew in amazing experimental aircrafts that fly at 200kts: Van's RV-7, Lancair Legacy
• I went to Sun N'Fun in Florida, to meet with other aviation nerds, ahem, enthusiasts
• I took a 2 day workshop to learn to build aluminum aircrafts
• I flew over the most beautiful bay in the world, over the Golden Gate Bridge and over San Francisco
• I flew over Mauii
• I flew to Napa Valley to visit wineries (but drank only water)
• I flew solo at 10,000 ft. I needed 25 minutes to climb the he last 1000ft
• I played with an Elite Sim, (it is just like Microsoft Flight Simulator, but uglier and FAA approved)
• I flew solo to Los Angeles where the visibility is 4 miles in haze when the weather is at its best
• I flew to Santa Barbara, Mojave Spaceport, San Diego, Santa Monica and many other exciting places
• I saw the sunset over the ocean from my plane
• I heard a real mayday call on the radio. The guy had lost his engine, but made it safely into a field
• I had an alternator failure in the retractable aircraft (but plenty of battery, so it was a non event).
• I did night touch and go at San Jose International Airport while 2 Boeings per minute were landing on the parallel runway
• I read more than 50 lb of aviation text books and watched too many aviation DVDs
• I subscribed to the Outdoor channel, so I can record Wings to Adventure on my DVR
• I spent dozens of hours with John and Matha King in their interactive Instrument course and their Commercial course
• I answered 926 Instrument questions and 620 commercial questions in the Gleim Test Prep software
• ... and a lot more.

Thanks to all of you who played a part in these adventures! I will miss you, but I will be back! Stay in touch.